Calmy-Rey wraps up West Africa trip
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey spent Saturday in Burkina Faso, the last stop on a three-day tour of West Africa.
Calmy-Rey visited an agricultural development project funded by Switzerland near the capital, Ouagadougou, after meeting with Burkina Faso’s president, Blaise Compaoré, on Friday evening.
The foreign minister also visited Nigeria and Mali on her trip. Mali and Burkina Faso are on the list of so-called “priority countries” by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
On Thursday, Calmy-Rey had met with Mali’s president, Amadou Toumani Touré, to discuss the kidnapping of four European nationals, including a Swiss couple.
In Nigeria, she met with that country’s vice president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and announced that Switzerland had returned $700 million (SFr816 million) that former Nigerian dictator Sani abacha had deposited in Swiss banks.
The seven-person entourage accompanying Calmy-Rey included Martin Dahinden, the SDC’s director.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.